Barofian Campaign
The Barofian Conflict was a war fought over the critically important resource of Noctilith, commonly known as Blackstone. Primarily fought between the forces of chaos and the Imperium, the war was marred with intervening conflicts with Dark Eldar opportunists and Tyranid vanguard organisms shunted through the spatial distortions incurred by the Maledictum Rift. Prelude As the warp storms of the Great Rift waxed and waned, a bubble of reinforced realspace was found by Imperial Doomscryers. In the flurry of need for the Imperial forces, a series of explorator fleets were dispatched from nearby Forge Worlds at behest of Sector Command of the Chalnath Expanse. The mixed Adeptus Mechanicus forces arrived in system, and immediately set up bases for Noctilith extraction upon Barof-4. All across the world, signs of ancient cataclysmic war and soon enough, forces of Chaos and opportunistic Aeldari began harassing the Explorator Forces, prompting a dispatch of a general distress message, which was soon rendered distorted across the abyss of the Warp; numerous loyal and traitor forces intercepted the call and moved to intercept before the perils of the warp cut them off once more. Initial Landings Chaotic forces managed to reach the system first, taking various strategic positions. Initially, Khornate aligned forces made early gains and landings upon the outposts around the system worlds. But not for long; soon after Imperial Forces would sweep into the system and make rapid claims of territory. The Mechanicum's immediate action was to lay claim to the dormant and troubled Forge. Their political weight did much to keep competing parties away, though in defiance of the organizations might, the forces of the Vylka Fenryka landed along the northern polar forge complexes. A significant disagreement in direction would break out regarding occupation of facilities. Trouble in Imperial Command broke out almost immediately; the detachment of Custodes remained aloof and promptly ignored all petitions for aid and support and began to land upon the world of Veth, where they began persecuting a vigorous campaign against the forces of the tyranid vanguard organisms. Their final objective unspoken and unstated. Upon Barof-4 proper, the secondary body of the Space Wolves landed alongside the Dark Angels, then maintained a healthy distance from each other as they swept through the abandoned Mechanicum Explorator fanes and outposts. To the south upon Barof-4 among the mining and processing facilities, the Calth expeditionary auxiliary began seizing ground and reporting the first probes by Aeldari forces. Initial response to the Aeldari was swift, and the Space Wolves moved south to crush them, but chased ghosts in a trail toward the orbiting Outpost-B323; where the Aeldari were revealed as Drukhari and the torments visited upon their victims revealed. While broadly successful, the Drukhari were able to slip away as a body while their brethren were torn apart in a series of frenzied assaults. Dark Angels made large consolidations of land across Barof-4, and repeatedly ignored petitions by the Mechanicum forces and refused diplomats. At this time, Dark Eldar began making sporadic appearances on Chorix, and the Dark Angels moved to counteract them, continuing to ignore communication from the Tech-Priests. Imperial Astropaths began detecting the warp signatures of approaching fleets and the panic in their minds drove them mad, causing a communications disruption in Imperial command. The Space Wolves upon the Forge engaged in pitched battle with the Khornate forces who had taken presence upon the Forge and bested them handily, slaying them almost entirely to a man. After the battle they began to refuse any and all communications. The Mechanicus, now consolidated on the forge began to approach the Space Wolf held areas to negotiate custody changes, and were attacked in a frenzy of bloodlust. The Mechanicum forces immediately responded with violence and a great conflict began between the Mechanicum legions and the increasingly maddened Space Wolves. The tech-priests attempted to remain as non-lethal as possible, but were forced to respond harshly. After each engagement, while consolidating the incredible losses of Skitarii to mindless butchery, they would claim the geneseed of the fallen wolves for analysis; much of it was found to be tainted by chaos, the pure samples were dispatched with an emissary to Fenris. The Hephaestian Mechanicus placed a call to Imperial allies to secure areas of the Forge World. Imperial Guard elements of the Calth Auxillary landed upon the forge, and began to act against the corrupted Space Wolf forces, moving towards the mines of the planet and dividing in half. Half of their number began securing the mines, and remained there, while the rest tried to spread out but were attacked by Drukhari raiders, their command elements being wiped out by the aliens. In the wake of the command decapitation, the Calth elements upon the forge began to act irrationally, and not long afterwards Aetheric disruptions were detected upon the Northern Hemisphere, and plague began to seep forth. The Dark Angels, mysterious that they are, also landed upon the Forge, and claimed an ancient Mechanicum citadel, ignoring all hails from the Hephaestian forces. On the nearby world of Veth, the Custodian Guard continued to prosecute their annihilation of the Vanguard Organisms so thoroughly that the Tyranids were thrown into disarray. Dispersion of Forces The infection vectors soon spread, and across numerous worlds, the Death Guard made their appearance into realspace and the dead walked across Chorix and Veth. Battlegroup Decimus continues to expand its influence across the planet, stirring the forge planet from its slumber. Moldering Claw have expanded their pustulent presence on Chorix as Gjallarhorn and the Mechanicus Battlegroups dealt with the 14th Legion. Dark Mechanicum ever in the shadows, are newly emboldened by the arrival of potential allies in the Death Guard, which have caused the Hephaestian war Machine to stall, if only temporarily. Oxidation, disease and death are the calling card to the Forge World, and heretic factions of the surviving Chorixian Tech-Priests rise up to join with the Death Guard. With the Dark Eldar purged from the mines at the core of the planet, the the 23rd Calth Auxilia expected to recover relics of technology to empower their conquest. The Calth forces there then began a series of maneuvers which the Mechanicus could not reach them in time to stop, centered around the Dark Angels held territory. Plunged into darkness during the same planetary cycle at Alfrost, on day-break the Custodian forces report the annihilation of the Hive Vanguard organisms. Tyranid Bio-ships have withered in orbit as Imperial sensors detect both Dark Light energies and Bio-Mass particles trailing in a field that leads West into the Great Rift. The spread of the Death Guard poses a new threat to all in system, though the Tyranids are no more; utterly shattered by the weapons of the Custodian Guard. The Space Wolf remnants who had escaped the Khornate corruption clung to their last outpost in system, with aid of the Mechanicus. With their numbers greatly diminished, the uncorrupted wolves pulled back, and departed the system. Upon the Forge World, the Mechanicus groups moved to ask the Dark Angels to leave, and extended a diplomatic hand, which was rebuked. At this refusal, the Hephaestian Mechanicus deployed a series of recon drones and infiltration elements to the Citadel. They found the citadel broadly operational and maintained to a much higher standard of care then the rest of the forge fanes, though a series of mighty battles had taken place, and Dark Angels were reported as dragging off other Space Marines clad in ancient Dark Angels heraldry and armor patterns.Unfortunately, one of the infiltrators was spotted, and soon after, the Dark Angels descended upon the Skitarii and Convocational elements in a fierce attack, which was repelled. After which the Mechanicus surged forth and drove the Dark Angels back out of the citadel to claim what is rightfully theirs. Petitions to the Dark Angels demanding explanations were issued, but none answered.The STC vaults were found to be intact. The greater Imperial forces continued to stake ground upon Barof-4, in search of traitors to their own, to spread the will of the Imperium and seek answers to old questions. Or in the case of the Death Guard, to bring Barof-4 into the cycle of decay. Buried in Hive Cities or undiscovered on the desolate plains Barof has yet to divulge it’s secrets as the Enginseers of the Imperial Armies worked ever harder With the disappearance of the Hive Fleet from Alfrost and Veth there is momentary ease knowing the Great Devourers presence is no longer — more terrifying is that the Dark Eldar have the ability at-hand to descend upon their foes. As Alfrost orbits in permanent darkness the abundant population of Barof-4s Hive Cities are well aware that they have more to fear then simply their world ablaze in war. When the Dark Eldar raid, they raid for beings. Upon Chorix, the Mechanicus then moved north, and came into conflict with the death guard so that they may claim the manufacturing complexes which made up the polar regions. The Space Marines, having freed themselves of any taint made to move against the death guard as well, but were repelled. The Mechanicus forces were also repelled in kind by the death guard, their terminators striking a crippling blow against the mechanical onslaught. However, the priesthood attending the strike force remained intact and with no casualties, and valuable information was gathered that day. Upon the other worlds of the system of Veth, Barof, and the drifting outposts, the warp began to weaken according to the Aetheric Analyzers, and several ritual sites were discovered set up behind Imperial lines that served dark purpose, notably within the body of ground claimed by the Calth 23rd. These ritual sites heralded dark purpose, which came to fruition with the revelation of the treachery of the mortal armies. Escalation Unbeknownst to the greater Imperial Forces, save perhaps that of the Custodes, the presence of the Inquisition had come into the system under careful concealment, tracking the presence of chaotic agents of dark legions. Pict captures surfaced and were spread among Imperial Command of Col. Kira Stormracker and their guard meeting with known traitor space marines. Upon this revelation, the Calth 23rd's command structure collapsed and schismed, the treachery within revealed. Immediate internecine conflict broke out upon Barof immediately consuming the attentions of the Imperial Armies. The full scope of the treason would not be made clear for several days, when the veil grew thin. The armies of Tzeentch and Thousand Sons had entered the system, the proverbial beacons set by the traitors in the Calth 23rd unknowingly. Off world on Veth and Alfrost, the Custodian Guard continued their inscrutable ways; entering conflicts only to depart halfway through a battle, assassinating a single commander, or destroying a task group or patrol in close quarters Zone Mortalis seemingly at random. It is theorized by Imperial Commanders and the learned Mechanicus that these battles were to stave off some future and yet unknown threat which only the divinators of the Imperial Household are made aware of. In the wake of the destruction of the Tyranids and the chaos now engulfing the Imperial forces on Barof, the Drukhari made an opportunistic strike. Their goal was to seize Custodians for some nefarious purpose, perhaps the fighting pits, perhaps to learn their secrets, but all that is known is that they failed, and their attacks were deflected and the few dead recovered. The warpath sent them directly into conflict with the Death Guard, whose vectors were beginning to spread throughout the system. The Thousand Sons made a swift and effective incursion and the Battle Barges Ankhtowe and Kymmeru along with the twisted Strike Crusiers Sekhemra and Planet Scourer Phosis T’Kar made orbit in system. Outpost 323 has fallen to the Coven of the Dreadful Magik as precision strikes are brought to bare on the worlds of Barof-4 and Chorix. The Thousand Sons mastery of sorcery allowed them to step through the veil, and deliver their Scarab Occult Terminators into the battlestations and vital points. The Hephaestian Mechanicus, reacting swiftly, determined that such breaches could not be permitted and deployed strange technologies known as probability anchors to stem the warp borne assault. The Thousand Sons, anticipating such a maneuver, made to claim and sabotage the Polar Fusion Complexes and began swiftly fortifying them in preparation. Upon Barof, the Dark Angels had claimed significant ground and claimed the old facilities and population structures which surrounded the abandoned military bases. Sightings of those same Marines which met with the Calth 23rd traitors were noted in these areas, to the denial of the Dark Angels and their haphazard movements. The Death Guard made to oppose them, encroaching unto their search grids from the south via the ash wastes which surrounded the mass genetorium complexes. The two forces quickly reached a stalemate, neither able to significantly drive back the other. The Death Guard too resolute, and the Dark Angels too entrenched. Elsewhere, the traitor elements of the Calth 23rd found their fate; fallen upon by the Death Guard for opposing their god, by the Thousand Sons for they had outlived their use, and by the Inquisition, who destroyed their tainted relics, coming away with rumor that weapons of ancient provenance lay in the system that were of keen interest to the Thousand Sons. The loyalist remnants of the Calth 23rd were rescued and/or captured by the Inquisition, and formed into an adhoc penal force under Inquisitorial command. The loyalist force was directed to an ancient treasure buried upon Barof-IV, an Aeldari Webway Gate. Ancient runes depicted its old use in a war long ago, and the once-Calth 23rd, now the Calth Penal Legion, went to their deaths to claim the gate for the Inquisitor and his purposes. The battle was mighty, and the gate came alive to defend itself, disgorging Aeldari and Drukhari forces of two differing liveries. They were driven back into the gate, and the Inquisitor and his remaining forces followed, departing Barof. Upon Chorix, the Mechanicus marched north in a grinding procession, making use of the old bulk transport pathways to make due haste. Additional forces from the Ordo Reductor were dropped from orbit to the high altitude spaceports in the Northern Regions. Mighty Siege Automata and Cybernetica Maniples marched in perfect lockstep with uncounted thousands upon thousands of Skitarii warriors and mechanical horrors. The battle was swift and intense; the Thousand Sons, blessed with prescience, anticipated the attack vectors and the mightiest warriors of the legion were upon the Mechanicus, Daemon Princes of Chaos descended upon the Mechanicus at the head of a horde of Tzangor horrors which materialized from the Aether in the wake of the Daemon Princes. The demons died in wave after wave as they made to break through the gunlines of the Mechanicus, the frantic and precise ministrations sending neutron beams at precise points, and cortex slaving allowing for whole cohorts of Battle Automata to focus fire on singular threats as they charged, and at the height of the battle bringing down the Daemon Princes as they made for their lines, its sorcery breaking upon their armor. The Mechanicus claimed the fusion complex and established dominance in its totality upon the forge, their Probability Anchor stations shielding critical parts of the world from further warp incursions, leaving the Death Guard Infection Vector within the polar manufactorum complexes the only cancer left upon the world. Stalemate As the tides of war shifted, the streams of reinforcements fluctuated and shifted. With the Forge World reignited, limited supplies of armaments began to flow to the Imperial Forces, allowing them to spread out to other worlds of the system, but sufficient resources on all sides have stymied. The Mechanicus has fallen into a defense posture, their only goal to secure their own holdings, jealously guarding what they have found there, reaching out only to scour ancient battlefields for technology; they found some, what they found was never disclosed, but a Mechanicus Grand Cruiser swiftly departed the system soon after. The Custodian guard had broadly dispersed, and a replacement force, much smaller and elite, had replaced it. Continuing to act independently of the Imperial Command structure. In their shifting war, they had claimed massive deposits of Blackstone to the great pleasure of the Mechanicus. To their then immediate displeasure, many of the stocks were destroyed via orbital bombardment, with few samples reaching the Mechanicus. The Custodians departed in time as swiftly as they arrived, their strength needed elsewhere according to the divination's of their Doomscryers. The Dark Angels broadly retreated from Barof, their own goals accomplished and unnoted. Leaving the Thousand Sons and Death Guard to fight over what was left of the Blackstone while the foolish remnants of the treacherous Calth 23rd remained stuck in between, ground down over time. The Dark Elder, satisfied, established small outposts, and took captives when they could, making off with scores of new slaves. The inquisitorial presence had departed, what mysteries or horror they would uncover would be theirs alone. The Mechanicus had sent tentative forces to the webway gate, but where unable to breach it, lacking the same knowledge the Inquisitor did. In the end, the system was rent asunder by war. What few native inhabitants of the planets were there originally were dead, and now only endless war remained. The Forge World would fuel the flagging Imperial Armies, the warp would nourish the traitors. What happens next will be determined by mortal courage and immortal warp born might.